


The Girl With The Unicorn Tattoo

by angelholme



Series: Gru's Girls [4]
Category: Despicable Me (Movies)
Genre: Future Fic, sensitive topics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 09:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1221493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelholme/pseuds/angelholme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three sisters return to their childhood home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl With The Unicorn Tattoo

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fourth in the "Gru's Girls" quartet, and so obviously the last. There will be no more stories, sequels, spin-offs or other stories related to this series, so please do not ask.
> 
> It's the longest of the four by a long way, and it is also a tad....... darker than the previous three, touching on some sensitive topics. So don't say you haven't been warned.

Together, the three sisters walked down the street. To the casual observer, they walked as if they had no where to go and nothing to do. As if they had all the time in the world.

But someone who paid a little more attention would have seen the tense posture in their walk, the look of determination on their faces and the look of fire in their eyes.

Turning the corner, the young woman in the middle stopped - her sisters following suit a moment later. 

"Last chance to back out" The youngest sister said quietly. On her left, the middle sister rubbed the back of her right hand, glancing at the scar she had had ever since her days at Miss Hattie's Home For Girls.

"We aren't letting you go back in there alone" The oldest sister said, looking at her two siblings "We each made a promise - once we had the evidence, we would do it together" Her sisters look back at her, then the youngest nodded.

"Then lets go" Agnes said, pulling a small dagger out of her boot. Edith reached over her shoulder and drew the katana from its sheath, while Margo pulled out a pistol from her belt. 

xoxox

"Alarm's disabled" Margo turned to face her sisters "You can go ahead" Agnes nodded, then glanced around as Edith swiftly and efficiently picked the lock. Pushing the door open, she picked up her sword as Agnes strode in to the foyer. 

Almost at once she stopped dead, staring at the far end.

_"I'm sorry Agnes, but you have to be taught to behave" A two year old Agnes stared up at the woman, trying to work out what she had done wrong._

_"You have been crying at night - keeping the other children awake. How can they do well in their lessons and their activities without a good night's sleep?" Agnes continued to stare at her, eyes now filling with tears as she realised the woman was angry with her._

_"And don't think crying will get you out of it" The woman snapped "It will only make things worse" Yanking her along by the hand, the woman lead Agnes down to the front hall and along to the far end._

_"Miss Hattie!" Agnes turned, her eyes brightening at her sister's voice, but the woman paid no attention to Margo's entreaties._

_"You will spend the night in there - maybe that will teach you to stop crying" The woman said in a nasty tone, she scooped Agnes up and deposited her in the giant cardboard box. Closing the lid, she turned to see a young girl with brown eyes and black glasses._

_"Yes, Margo?" The woman said._

_"She's just a baby - she can't help crying" Margo tried to get past the matron of the home, but Miss Hattie put her hand down and stopped her._

_"How will she learn if I don't teach her?" Miss Hattie said in a firm tone "Now go back to bed, unless you want to be punished" Margo stared past her at the box, then slowly she turned and walked back along the corridor to the stairs._

The memory of her first night in The Box Of Shame flashed through her mind, along with a dozen other similar memories. And from the look on her sisters' faces, they were lost in the past as well.

It wasn't the same box - at some point since they had left The Home, the cardboard had become metal. A padlock held it closed, and - with a shiver of revulsion - she realised there was no opening cut in to the front any more. 

"Agnes" She turned at the sound of Edith's voice "We have to keep moving" 

"I know" Agnes replied, then - with a final glance at the box - she turned and headed towards the stairs, her sisters trailing behind her.

xoxox

At the sound of footsteps, Margo raised her gun, but then lowered it as Edith shook her head.

"Too young" Edith whispered, then all three sisters ducked in to the nearest alcove as a girl no older than eight walked past them towards the bathroom. 

As the door closed behind the child, Edith closed her eyes. 

_"Look at what you've done!" Miss Hattie stared down at Edith, lying in the bed she had apparently wet during the night "Disgusting, dirty girl!"_

_"I'm sorry...." Edith said, starting to cry._

_"You must be made clean!" Miss Hattie said in a fervent voice, then she dragged Edith from the bed and along the landing to the bathroom "Get undressed!" Edith stared at her in confusion, still trying to clear the sleep from her head._

_"I said GET UNDRESSED!" Miss Hattie screamed, then she started ripping the nightclothes off the girl in front of her. When Edith was bare, Miss Hattie picked her up and dropped her in the bath, then turned the shower on her, blasting the girl with hot water._

_"Owwwwwwwww!" Edith put her hands up, causing the water to spray all over the bathroom._

_"STOP IT!" Miss Hattie whacked the back of Edith's right hand with the shower head, cutting the skin and causing blood to mix into the water._

_"Now look what you've done" Miss Hattie glared at her, while Edith shrank backwards "After I've cleaned you up, I want you to scrub this shower until you get all your blood off it" Edith stared up at her, then slowly nodded "That's a good girl - now let me get a bandage"_

The door opened again, and all three sisters watched as the young girl walked sleepily back along the landing, disappearing in to one of the bedrooms. 

Edith pushed the door to the bathroom open, then turned round - eyes blazing.

"It's the same shower" She said intently. Margo squeezed her arm supportively, then looked down the corridor. 

"Her bedroom is on the next floor" 

xoxox

A few minutes later, they were walking along the top landing towards Miss Hattie's room. Suddenly Margo stopped, staring at a green door set back in the wall. 

"I'd forgotten" She said in a near whisper "I'd forgotten what's behind the door" Edith and Agnes came up behind her, each taking her hand as they flanked her.

"You never told us" Agnes said quietly "Of all the punishments and torments, you never mentioned this one again" 

"Because I wanted to forget" Margo said quietly "I wanted to wipe it from my mind - to forget it ever happened" She turned to face her sisters "It was the third time she had put you in the box" She looked at her little sister "I ripped the box open and took you back to bed"

"I remember" Agnes said with a smile.

"I remember a new box" Edith said "But no one ever knew why" 

"Well I pretty much wrecked the old one" Margo said, smiling slightly at the memory of ripping The Box Of Shame in to little bits "But one of the other girls saw me, and told her the next morning" her smile faded "That night, she dragged me out of bed and brought me up here, and locked me in that room" Margo turned to stare at the door.

"You can tell us" Edith said, taking her hand again and squeezing it. 

"There are five windows in the room - all run from floor to ceiling" Margo's brown eyes lost focus as she drifted in to the past "She shackled me to the floor - tied me down, blindfolded me, lit the lamps and then opened the windows" With a shiver, she shook her head.

"She left me there all night - with the insects, the bugs...." Trailing off, she shook her head again "In the morning, I was so terrified that I realised I would do anything she said - obey her every order - rather than go through that again" Agnes reached up and wiped the tears from her sister's cheeks. 

"Thank you" She said softly, making Margo smile.

"I am just sorry I gave in" She said softly, but Agnes shook her head.

"You did what you had to" She kissed Margo's cheek "And now we will do what we should have done a long time ago" 

xoxox

Jolting out of bed, Miss Hattie looked around in surprise, wondering where the noise had come from. As she took the time to focus, she saw that her door was hanging off its hinges, and that three people were now stood in her bedroom. 

"Who..... who are you?" She asked in a hesitant voice. 

"You have forgotten us so soon?" The right hand figure asked "But of course - to you, we were just another three girls in your Home for Girls. Another three in a long, long line of girls you took in, abused, then got rid of without a second thought" 

"I never abused anyone" Miss Hattie sat up, her voice defiant "I cared for each girl who was put in my charge"

"You abused and tortured every girl who came through here" The left hand figure said forcefully "You never cared for any of us - just for what you could get out of us!"

"I tried to turn you all in to decent young women who would be a credit to your country!" Miss Hattie yelled back "I just wanted you all to have a good and decent life - is that such a bad thing?"

"We are not here for what you wanted to do, or what you tried to do" The middle figure strode forward, raising a small knife "We are here for what you did" Miss Hattie stared at her, a look of recognition crossing her face.

"I know you" She said, voice full of awe "You're that Agnes girl, aren't you"

"So you do remember those you have abused" The girl smiled, then pulled her balaclava off "But sadly, I fear it will be a very short lived memory" She pointed her dagger at her former matron, while her sisters walked up to stand either side of her.

"You'll never get away with this" Miss Hattie said defiantly, but Agnes merely laughed.

"Yes, we will"

xoxox

The next morning, during their weekly visit to their parents, the girls looked up in unison as Lucy came into the kitchen, carrying a piece of paper and looking serious. 

"I'm afraid I have some bad news" She said quietly, glancing at her husband "This is a fax from HQ - Silas wanted to tell us before we saw it on the news"

"What has happened?" Gru asked. 

"It seems that last night someone broke in to Miss Hattie's Home For Girls" Lucy said slowly "I'm afraid Miss Hattie was murdered" 

"Oh my" Agnes exclaimed.

"There's more...." Lucy scanned through the fax "The police checked on all the girls - to see if anyone else had been hurt or was missing - and they all showed some signs of abuse" She paused "When they were first asked about it, not one of them said anything, but once they learned Miss Hattie was dead, they all said it was she who had abused and tortured them" 

"Wow" Margo said, pushing her glasses up her nose. Gru walked over to stand by his wife.

"Girls....." He started, then looked at Lucy, who nodded "Did she ever hurt any of you?" The three sisters exchanged glances, then looked back at their parents.

"No" They replied in unison. Gru stared at them for a moment longer, then smiled.

"Okay - I will be back in a minute. I am just finishing the pancakes" He walked over to the stove, and poured out some more batter.

Lucy watched him, then looked back to the three women sat round the table. 

"So - did you have fun last night?" She asked quietly. The girls stared back at her, then Agnes smiled.

"Yes, mother" She nodded. 

"And do you think you'll need to go out again?" Lucy gazed at her daughter. Agnes gazed back at her mother for a few moments, then shook her head.

"No, mother - I don't think we will be doing it again" She said, making Lucy smile.

"Are you alright?" Her mother asked. Agnes looked at her thoughtfully for a few minutes, then smiled.

"You know what?" She said "I think I am"

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to the original owners of Despicable Me, except possibly the girl who went to the bathroom.


End file.
